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Jersey Guys: Seton Hall’s Jeremy Hazell and Rutgers’ Mike Rosario can fill it up, but right now they’re colder than Greenland. Maybe they need to watch from the bench a little.

Jim Calhoun: Between the high blood pressure, the cancers, the shingles and now the stress/exhaustion, you wonder if it’s worthwhile for UConn’s coaching legend to continue.

The schedule-maker: Tough spot for Seton Hall ticket-holders Sunday when SHU-Pitt conflicts with Jets-Colts. If you stand in the right spot in the Fire & Ice lounge, you can watch both games.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Louisville at Seton Hall, tonight at 7 (ESPN): Desperation will be in the air at the Rock. Louisville has dropped two straight and Seton Hall’s pulse is fading fast. The Pirates won a shootout when these teams met here two years ago. Key matchup: Herb Pope vs. Samardo Samuels.

Georgetown at Syracuse, Monday at 7 (ESPN): Pull up a chair for Big Monday, because the glamour is back in this classic rivalry. The chess match ought to be fascinating as the Hoyas’ Princeton hybrid meets the Orange’s 2-3 zone. Key matchup: Wes Johnson vs. Greg Monroe.

Notre Dame at Villanova, Wednesday at 7 (ESPN): The stars will be out when the league’s top two players, Luke Harangody and Scottie Reynolds, take the court together. The points should flow as well. Will somebody hit the century-mark? Key matchup: Corey Fisher vs. Tory Jackson.

BY THE NUMBERS

1,599: Wins in Louisville history. That ranks No. 18 in the nation and fourth among Big East squads, behind Syracuse, St. John’s and Notre Dame.

68: Percent shooting from the field by Georgetown in an 85-73 win over Seton Hall, a school record against a Big East foe.

43.1: Marquette’s 3-point shooting percentage, better than four teams are shooting overall from the field (Providence, St. John’s, Rutgers and DePaul).

13: Big East games decided by three or fewer points. There were 12 all of last season.

.042: Rutgers’ winning percentage in the first six games of its Big East schedule over the past four years. The Scarlet Knights are 1-23.

NOTABLE QUOTES FROM THE CONFERENCE CALL

“You don’t want to be the team he becomes himself against. He’s a terrific shooter and he has the freedom to work his way out of situations. What he’s done in the past couple of games is irrelevant because you know he’s going to get back to what he does. He puts the ball in the basket too well to continue to miss.” —Georgetown’s John Thompson on Rutgers’ Mike Rosario.

“I was so impressed with the way he played on top of our press, how he came in and made things happen defensively. He did all kinds of things that usually a star high school player doesn’t understand because they were used to having the ball in their hands all the time. I think that comes from Bob Hurley—you’re not just a shooter, you’re a basketball player.” —Villanova’s Jay Wright on freshman Dominic Cheek’s performance against Rutgers.

“I think both of them would be great college coaches and basically, they are. Those two high schools are run like college programs.” —Wright when asked whether St. Ben’s Dan Hurley and St. Pat’s Kevin Boyle could coach at the college level.

“You need to still follow what Jim does. It’s Jim’s team, it’s not my team. Whatever feelings I have about how things should be and shouldn’t be, that’s not important. The players have to adjust to a different style, whether I yell or don’t yell, but the way we play should be the same thing.” —UConn’s George Blaney on filling in for Jim Calhoun.

THE GONZO QUOTES

“Our schedule has been brutal, just absolutely brutal. Our four losses have been to teams in the top 12 in the country. It’s not an excuse, but our schedule ha been a killer. The perception is we’re not doing well, and a lot of that is our schedule. We’re hoping to turn it around. Everyone in this league goes through the meat grinder and hopefully it will get easier for us.”

On keeping Herb Pope out of foul trouble:

“There are fouls that are hustle fouls, when he’s playing so hard, it’s going to happen, you live with it. But there are some that mentally he has to learn, 45 feet from the basket, showing out on a ball screen which is how he got his fifth foul in the Georgetown game . . . these are the ones we have to get him to understand because they’re hurting him and they’re hurting our team.”

“It’s still a learning process for Herb. Even though he’s a terrific player, he played only a half a year at New Mexico State. He really doesn’t have much game experience, especially in the Big East where he’s playing against great big guys. It’s a work in progress, learning what the officials are going to call and what they’re not going to call. It’s not easy but we’ve tried to be conscious of it and protect him with matchups.”

On Pope in general:

“I knew he was going to be an impact player and a difference maker for us. We had been last in the Big East in rebounding and we knew Herb could rebound the ball. What I didn’t see, given the fact that he sat out a year and how good this conference is, I didn’t see him having this much of an impact this soon. The more he gets comfortable with handling double teams, and he’s getting better at the free-throw line, and if he learns how not to pick up foolish fouls, I think Herb can be one of the better big guys in this conference.”

“The talk about him going anywhere (pro) is nonsense and foolishness. He’s got three years in this league and he plans to use at least a couple of them before he goes somewhere to make money. Herb wants to get better, he listens to coaching, he watches film. I think the sky’s the limit with Herb.”

On avoiding trouble off the court: “I know I got in trouble in the beginning of the year for sticking up for him with the people from CBS (Sportsline), I can’t remember the guy’s name right now, but they were taking shots at Herb before the season. I got defensive and defended him and people came at me, that’s fine, I’d rather take the pressure than have it be on Herb. But I think he’s been remarkable. Right now people need to give the kid credit with what he’s done so far, and let it play out. If he does foolish things take him to task. If he doesn’t he should be recognized for the maturity and the turnaround he’s made because right now he’s been a success story.”

On why Melvyn Oliver doesn’t play:

“It’s a combination of a couple of things. My issue with him has been his constant battle with his weight and conditioning. If he could only play on one end of the floor he’d be a monster. But unfortunately he’s got to cross half court and we need him to play both ends. I’ve been fearful of getting him into too many games because of how well the big men in this league run.”

“I really haven’t been able to pull the trigger with Melvyn. A lot of it has been fear with the matchups. But I do think he’ll eventually give us something. We’re not giving upon him. He’s a big body, and as I’ve said many times, he’s got a tremendous skill set.”

“We want to get him to a place where he can play two to three minutes and he’s not just playing at one end. He can finish inside but we can’t be playing 5-on-4 on defense. On defense he can provide a big body, but we’ve go to get him on offense because we don’t want to play 5-on-4 there. There are games this year where he can still help us. With John Garcia limited because of a back injury (that stems from his bad knee), at some point we’ve got to get Melvyn in there.”

3 thoughts on “Big East notebook (updated)”

I know where Melvyn can play. The play room at McDonald's. He can play one side of the room with Bic Mac's and then head over to the play area to work it off. It's a natural.
Did Gonzalez think that all of a sudden this large kid was going to be able to run the floor? Melvyn is never going to be svelt and unless he works out like a maniac, things won't change.

Hey Jerry ... your question about Jay Wright reminds me of Burt Reynolds' answer to Sally Field (in Smoky & the Bandit) when she asked about removing his cowboy hat !!! It might just be appropriate here !!! Hee-Hee-Hee !!!

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About the Author

Jerry Carino has covered sports for the Gannett New Jersey newspapers since 1996 and has been on the college basketball beat since 2003. A native of Old Bridge, he also teaches journalism at Kean University.Email Jerry.